India consumed 157.057 million tonnes of petroleum products in 2012-13.

"Our biggest challenge is the ever growing gap between the demand and supply resulting in heavy import dependence... Presently we import about 75 per cent of our requirement.

"The country cannot afford to survive with an import bill of around USD 160 billion for petroleum and natural gas alone. The main area of import is crude oil, where nearly 80 per cent of the demand will have to be met through imports by the end of the Twelfth Plan period. In case of natural gas, current import dependence is about 30 per cent," he said.